Ellen DeGeneres Reveals Secrets Behind Her ‘Very Lucrative’ $190 Million Home-Flipping ‘Hobby’

Comedian Ellen DeGeneres has opened up about her "very lucrative" home-flipping "hobby," revealing how she and wife Portia de Rossi have amassed a staggering $190 million fortune from their savvy real estate deals—while lifting the lid on whether she will continue her property pursuits now that she's moved permanently to the U.K.

DeGeneres, 67, who quit the U.S. to relocate to the British countryside with de Rossi, 52, at the end of 2024 after learning that Donald Trump had declared victory in the election, candidly shared her knack for home design in a wide-ranging interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Before moving abroad, the couple created quite the resume of home flips in and around California—a talent they are now hoping will help them offload their first British abode, which DeGeneres spent $9 million renovating only to realize that they needed somewhere with more space for her wife's horses.

Since the mid-2000s, the duo has owned more than 34 homes in the U.S., almost all of which they have flipped for a profit, in some cases carrying out renovations and putting the dwellings back on the market within a matter of months.

Speaking to the WSJ about this passion, DeGeneres revealed that she ramped up her house-flipping hobby during the pandemic, when she had much more spare time on her hands to devote to a new pursuit.

In 2020 alone, the comedian and her spouse bought at least five homes, all of which they have since flipped and sold to new buyers. In 2021 and 2022, they purchased at least eight homes.

Occasionally, the investments result in losses—but they have, on the whole, come out very much on top (and in the money), although their business manager, Harley Neuman, told the publication that, while they may have netted $190 million in profit from their sales, the money they've poured into renovations means that number is much lower in reality.

“I would love her to have made that big of a killing," he said. “Forget about the real estate agents and the escrow and title people, it’s the costs of the contractors and the designers and the army that comes in once we’ve closed. It takes a village."

He noted that the $190 million figure also doesn't account for how much DeGeneres sinks into furniture costs—revealing that, in most cases, the pieces are purchased specifically for a home and are then sold with it when it goes on the market.

“None of the furniture is inexpensive. She takes the art off the walls, but everything else gets sold," he revealed, adding that she has probably worked on 50 home flips in total.

While some might assume that the comedian simply cannot settle on a home she actually likes, she insists that her drive to overhaul houses and then sell them is motivated more by her love of design and architecture.

“It’s not that I get bored, I’m just so passionate about architecture and furniture and you can only buy a certain type of furniture for a contemporary house or a midcentury house,” DeGeneres explained.

She admitted that if her television career didn't work she would have been an interior designer.

The TV personality also said that her home-flipping hobby is nothing new, explaining that she has been interested in the designs of different properties since she was a child.

“We never owned a house, so I always wanted to own a house as an adult. I was fascinated by different architecture and different layouts," she explained.

DeGeneres revealed that she likes being involved in every part of the home-flipping process—overseeing each aspect from start to finish.

Rayni Williams of the Beverly Hills Estates, who represented an A-lister who purchased one of the couple’s homes, told the outlet, “She is not the kind of person who hires a designer and says ‘Here is my credit card.’ She is the director, for sure."

DeGeneres noted, "[The homes] always sold for more, because I always did little tweaks. I would sell the house completely furnished, so people wouldn’t have to do anything, which was a dream."

Although DeGeneres and de Rossi have made no secret about their fondness for real estate deals, they have taken steps to shroud their purchases and sales behind LLCs and trusts, many of which have been linked to Neuman, who manages their accounts.

Yet much attention has been given to the properties that they are known to have flipped, with features in numerous publications detailing the many different purchases and sales they've been behind.

In 2011, DeGeneres and de Rossi opened up about their burgeoning real estate empire in an interview with Architectural Digest. In it, they joked about how the comedian's homebuying habits had quickly spiraled after she snapped up her first home.

DeGeneres' first home was a Spanish bungalow in West Hollywood, CA, which she fixed up and then sold.

During that process, she told AD, she realized if she could "make some improvements," she could make a profit.

Now that they have moved to the U.K., DeGeneres concedes that she doesn't know if she will have the time to continue home-flipping at such a steady rate—telling the WSJ that she does plan to return to her primary career on-screen and onstage.

"I think I’m going to work again, so I’m looking at how much time I’m going to have," she admitted.

But the former talk show host is hoping that her first foray into renovations across the pond will prove to be a successful one—having listed the couple's original U.K. home earlier this year, just one year after they bought it.

DeGeneres and de Rossi purchased the 43-acre property in June 2024 for $20 million and proceeded to carry out an extensive renovation.

However, just one month after moving in, the duo decided to move on—having snapped up a much more extravagant dwelling that boasts a very different aesthetic from the historic stone farmhouse they have now put on the market.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, DeGeneres explained that she and her spouse made the decision to purchase a second home because it offered more space for de Rossi's horses, which the couple had flown over to the U.K. after deciding to make the country their full-time home.

“When we decided to live here full time, we knew that Portia couldn’t live without her horses,” she said. “We needed a home that had a horse facility and pastures for them.”

The dwelling that the duo is now attempting to sell is known as Kitesbridge Farm and is located in a tony countryside area known as the Cotswolds, which has long been home to some of the country's most celebrated stars.

In a past listing, the property was described as "an eco-farmhouse with the perfect modern rustic interior." However, DeGeneres and de Rossi's listing agent, Andrew Barnes, noted that the farm was somewhat "tired" when the couple purchased it.

However, that didn't stop DeGeneres from falling in love with the home—reportedly paying around $3.3 million over the asking price to secure the dwelling, then enlisting a team of 70 workers to rush through renovations so it would be ready for her and de Rossi as soon as possible, decreasing the estimated time required to complete the work from 18 months to 10 weeks.

Yet DeGeneres and de Rossi would end up spending just a matter of weeks living in the completed dwelling before moving on to a new ultramodern home that is located about 30 minutes away and has a more Malibu-esque aesthetic than the traditional stone dwelling they first purchased.